


every mile is two in winter

by bellaaanovak



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 02:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1802362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellaaanovak/pseuds/bellaaanovak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Months after the events in <i> The Winter Soldier </i>, Steve is going through yet another difficult winter season. There's only one thing that can make it better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	every mile is two in winter

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: stevebucky + snow

We build statues out of snow,

and weep to see them melt.

\- Walter Scott

Steve’s knuckles are red, and he isn’t sure if it’s from the cold or from the scabs. He left his gloves back at his apartment and didn’t notice until he was on the subway halfway across the city. His knuckles are bruised and scraped from hitting the brick wall in the alley next to his apartment. He even punched a fist-shaped dent into a trash can lid for old times’ sake. It’s hard not to get angry during the winter.

 

He gets off of the train three stops earlier than his usual stop into the city and gets pissed when he leaves the stop and registers that it’s snowing. Winter in New York was hell seventy-five years ago and it’s hell now, too. Even though he couldn’t afford many effective warm clothes back in the thirties or gloves without holes in them, he still used to enjoy winter. He played with other kids and built snowmen. He and Bucky would huddle under blankets, the other’s body warming up Steve’s much smaller one. Now he can’t hear the words _winter_ or _snow_ or _cold_ without being taken back to Bucky’s fall, or being frozen.

 

His hands already begin to feel numb and it’s a wonder that he hasn’t just adapted to the cold. Steve walks down the nearly empty streets of New York until he comes across a clothing store. He walks in and chuckles at the Avengers merchandise strewn in various places across the store. He’s not disguised at all; he was just heading to the tower. In fact, all he’s wearing is a sweatshirt he bought at Goodwill and a pair of jeans. Luckily, other than the employees, there aren’t that many people in the store anyways. His fame generally has died down a little. He wanders until he finds a simple pair of black gloves that fit nicely. When he goes to buy them, the cashier at the register turns pink.

 

“Hey, you’re Steve Rogers,” the girl says nonchalantly. She rings up the gloves and glances down at Steve’s hands. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I had a bit of a disagreement with a brick wall earlier, that’s all.” Steve replies simply. He hands her a ten dollar bill and smiles. “Keep the change.”

 

The girl, who has _Fran_ scribbled on her name tag, grins sweetly and opens the drawer under the register, shuffling things around. Just as Steve is about to ask what she’s doing, she hands him a small tube of Neosporin.

“For your hands. It really helps, I promise.” Steve takes it and nods.

“Thank you.”

 

The girl nods back and he walks out of the store calmly. He applies the Neosporin to his knuckles. It stings a little, but it’s nothing he can’t handle. He pulls the gloves on and shoves his hands into his pockets. He continues to walk around Times Square, seeing if there’s anywhere else he might need to stop before heading over to the tower. When he feels his phone buzzing in his jeans, he wets his lips, expecting it to be Tony telling him to hurry up. But it isn’t.

 

It’s Bucky.

 

Steve’s never picked up a phone call so fast in his life. It’s been weeks since they’ve spoken – Bucky is in New York, but nowhere Steve can find him, _figuring things out_.

 

“Bucky?” Steve ducks into a McDonald’s and slides into a booth at the back of the restaurant. “Is that you?”

“Yeah, Steve, it’s me.” Well, that’s comforting all in itself. “I… missed you.” Steve’s heart nearly leaps out of his chest and he grins at the table. He can hear a soft rock and roll song playing in the background on the other end and he furrows his eyebrows.

“Where are you right now?” Steve asks, hoping to God he’ll get a straight answer.

“Rudy’s Music Store on 48th. They have a section for music of our time called ‘oldies’. Steve, I… I want to see you.”

 

Steve almost chokes on air. He’son 47th street. His best friend, his _everything_ , is literally a block away from him. As far as he knows, this is the closest they’ve been in months.

“I’ll be right there.”

 

Steve hangs up the phone abruptly and dashes out of the restaurant, looking around. He sees the music store and bursts in. He spots Bucky immediately. Bucky is wearing a black t-shirt and a navy colored zip-up hoodie. The metallic fingers of his left arm hang out of his sleeve, and a grey beanie covers most of his long hair. Steve’s halfway across the store in a half of a second, gripping Bucky tight. They hug for a few minutes and Steve stifles a sob.

 

They haven’t spoken in weeks but they haven’t seen each other in longer.

 

“Let’s get out of here, let’s go somewhere.” Steve begs through a whisper. He doesn’t even care if he’s going to be late to whatever Tony had planned at the tower.

“It’s snowing…” Bucky responds.

“I know. C’mon.”

 

Steve takes his friend’s hand and squeezes for dear life as they walk out of the store. Within thirty minutes, they’re back in Brooklyn at a small park that’s been there since they were teenagers. It’s a miracle it’s lasted so long, what with all of the upgraded buildings around it.

 

They behave like children outright. They build a snowman. They throw snowballs a lot more forcefully than they used to, considering one’s laced with super strength and the other has a bionic arm. The snow is still coming down and Steve rushes to Bucky, wrapping his arms around his neck and kissing him slowly and gently. It’s been a long time since they’ve done that, too, but Bucky kisses back regardless.

 

And so for a while, once the two get too cold, they huddle under a blanket and watch a movie on Pay-Per-View. They don’t need to keep each other warm this time, but they do it anyway. Steve doesn’t wince when he hears the words _winter_ or _cold_ or _snow_ anymore. For years, he hated anything having to do with the season because he was continually reminded of what he had lost. Not anymore, though.

 

This is the winter Steve gets Bucky to stay.


End file.
